"Daries, what are you doing?" Lira shrieked. Then it dawned on her, Daries was a rogue too. He had even stolen from her before too.
Daries walked away from the caravan and Lira, and while he was doing so, he was only looking at the seal.
The merchant's face was pale and was the very definition of regret and devastation.
"Daries!" Lira barked and stopped after him.
"Calm down, Red." Daries said flatly as he stared at the seal.
"How could you do that?" Lira demanded. "Stealing from an injured man? How vile!"
"I'm not stealing." Daries stated. "Well, not yet."
Lira gaped at him then remembered the amount of blood in the caravan. She was a Moonborne, it was her duty to save him.
No, she wanted to save him.
She knew that she had the power to heal the injuries of others completely, even though she had never tried it on an injury larger than a shallow cut before.
She dashed into the caravan and pressed her hand over the merchant's wound. He winced. Lira took a deep breath and focused on channeling her energy.
Then in a flash she saw the destroyed temple and the obliterated oak tree. Then she imagined herself turning the merchant into a red sticky puddle.
She gasped then recoiled. "I-um…I- I should stop the bleeding, I need a-"
"Tourniquet?" Daries said as he entered holding the seal and one of his old jackets. He knelt down beside the man who was clearly terrified of him.
Daries placed the seal beside him and bunched up the jacket and pressed it to the merchant's wound.
"I'm sorry for starting you, sir." He said. "I had to check if your seal was fake in case you were a rogue trying to sneak into Silverstone."
The man meekly nodded but Lira asked, "How would you know if it was fake or not?"
"The ink of permissive seals are mixed with the blood of the Alpha of the pack. The fake ones don't have the faint scent of blood." Daries stated. "They also look different in the sun."
"How did you know?" The merchant asked, finally getting his voice back.
"My family is close to the Alpha's family over at my pack" Daries replied as he wrapped another piece of cloth around the merchant's torso.
Lira stepped forward and helped Daries bring the man out of the caravan.
Lira hoisted the man onto Daries' back with a light grunt. The merchant was quite corpulent but Daries effortlessly and silently carried him.
"Sorry Red, you'll have to carry the bags." Daries said.
"No it's fine." Lira crouched down and carried the bags.
They walked until the forest thinned out and a village came into view. The weather had cooled down and the sun had started to set.
The merchant's wound had healed a bit because he was a werewolf but not enough that he didn't need a healer. He occasionally groaned in pain on Daries' back.
They walked to the gate and met two guards outside.
"Marcel!" one of the guards yelled with his face full of worry. "Take him inside!" He ordered the other guard beside him.
The other guard, a tall man with sandy blonde hair, took Marcel from Daries and gently hurried past the gates.
The first guard turned to them and said, "Thank you for helping Marcel."
"Here's his seal." Daries handed it to him.
"Where are yours?" He asked as he pocketed it. "Or your destination is not Silverstone?"
"It is," Lira said. "Actually we don't have one."
The guard frowned then Lira said, "I'm here on the orders of High Priestess Donna. We got a letter from the temple here about a month ago."
The guard raised a brow, "And you didn't tell your Alpha?"
"There's a bit of friction between the two of them over at Ironwood."
"Ironwood?" The guard straightened and so did Daries but it was slight.
The guard walked closer to Lira, his eyes fixed on her metal brooch. He swiped his thumb across it, and shifted it so the sunlight would reflect on it. Then he bent down and touched the hem of her dress.
Lira heard a clink and looked down. The guard was wearing a rock-like necklace with runes carved into them.
Once he confirmed the existence of the Ironwood sigil, embroidered in a darker coloured thread across the hem of her dress, he nodded to himself and got up.
"Welcome Sister." He then nodded towards Daries, "And him?"
"My page." Lira replied.
"Okay, Welcome to Ironwood." The guard said as they walked past the gates. "You'll be taken to see the Alpha first."
Once they got to the other side a sinewy woman with a ponytail and a scar on her left eyebrow approached them.
"Hello Sister, please follow me." She said in a slightly gravelly voice.Throughout the entire walk, the three of them remained silent. She led them not to the Alpha's house but a structure that looked like a temple.
"I thought we were going to see the Alpha." Lira said, clearly confused.
The woman smiled and said, "You are. This is where he lives."
The political structure in Silverstone was the complete opposite of the one in Ironwood. Instead of separating religion from the government, they fused it.
The Alpha ruled while his Luna was the High Priestess. The Alpha, Luca Dontelle was a middle-aged man with brown hair and kind brown eyes.
He welcomed the two of them but he said something that shocked Lira and Daries.
"Why did you leave your pack to come here?" Alpha Luca asked, pointing at Daries. He still had a light smile on his face.
"I'm here to assist Sister Lir-" Daries started.
"No." Alpha Luca shook his head. "You're not from Ironwood. Who is your Alpha?"
Lira's heart rate picked up at the question. There's no way Daries would know.
Rogues were considered an aberration and no one would bat an eye at an Alpha killing one found on his territory. As for those who helped a rogue, the punishment was just as harsh; imprisonment or execution even.
"Tell me boy," Alpha Luca kept his eyes locked on Daries. "What is the name of the Alpha of Ironwood?"